What Is A Smack In Diving?

A smack is when a diver lands flat on their back, stomach or legs instead of vertically into the water.

Essentially, anything other than a clean entry or near miss can hurt, but you know when you see a smack because it makes a very distinct sound. 

Why it hurts so much

Water doesn't move out of the way fast enough.

When you enter hands first with your arms locked, you're making a small hole and the water parts around you. When you land flat, you're asking a large area of water to move all at once, and it won't.

For that fraction of a second it behaves like a solid.

From three meters it can hurt quite a lot or just be pretty unpleasant.

From platform, it can take you out of the water with concussion or worse. It can be extremely painful.

The sound is the part people remember. A real smack makes a crack that echoes off the walls, and everyone in the building turns around.

Then there's the pause where the whole pool waits to see if the diver surfaces laughing or crying.

What causes them

It isn't very often that a smack happens on purpose so the main things that cause them are getting lost (losing body awareness) in the air, accidentally coming out too early or late, or attempting a dive on either a really good hurdle or really bad hurdle, which you are not used to.

It is also possible to slip out of your pike or tuck which can easily lead to a smack like it did for this diver in the olympics!

This is the entire reason divers use shammies... these tiny towels.

What it's actually like

It stings hard, immediately, across whatever surface hit. Skin goes red and stays that way for a while. Many smacks leave a welt or bruise as well.

In practice, you can take your time getting back to the board. It is usually best to breathe through it with deep breaths in the water before getting out. Wait until the initial pain subsides and the sting goes away.

Depending on the severity, there will be a throbbing sensation that takes over and it might take all of the energy out of your body.

But it is very important that you get back on the board and try it again, if this is a dive you have done before. And if it is a new dive, do some more lead-ups and come back to it the next day.

Most smacks are not, generally, how divers get seriously hurt. The real injuries in diving come from accumulated wear on shoulders, wrists, and backs over years, which is why you see so much tape on people or from hitting the board which is much more rare.

That said, a very bad landing from a high platform is worth taking seriously, and coaches don't treat those casually as concussions and large fear complexes can come out of hard smacks that are not dealt with properly.

How divers avoid them

Mostly by not learning scary dives the hard way.

New dives get built on trampolines and dryland boards first. Coaches use spotting belts, which are harnesses on ropes that let them physically stop a dive going wrong. And training pools use a bubble machine that fills the landing area with air so the water goes more soft.

Bubbles are the big one. Trying a new dive is a completely different proposition when the worst outcome is a soft splat.

Other things you're probably wondering

• Why is water sprayed on the diving pool?
• Why do divers wear tape?
• Why do divers use those tiny towels?
• Why do divers shower after every dive?

- DG